


The Hidden Truth

by itislacey



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Angst, Phan - Freeform, Sad, but its not sad either, idk if you want to say its a happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-11
Updated: 2016-06-11
Packaged: 2018-07-14 11:27:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7169183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itislacey/pseuds/itislacey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dan and Phil have been touring the world with their show, The Amazing Tour is Not on Fire, and when the last show ever comes to a close, Dan and Phil reveal the real reason why they went on such an extravagant tour.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Hidden Truth

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, hello! I thought I'd share one of my most popular fics from Tumblr with all of you! Fair warning, this fic made almost everyone who read it, cry. So prepare for that if you're an emotional sap! (And no worries, I read it back to myself a few days after I posted it, and nearly cried from my own story. So sad.) 
> 
> ANYWAYS, all of the events that lead up to Mid-2016 are true. Things that have happened or things that Dan and Phil have actually said. Anything AFTER, let me repeat, AFTER, Mid-2016, is just a bunch of stuff I made up. So don't attack me with your words XD this is a work of fiction. Mostly. 
> 
> Also, I wrote this story based off of some SPECTACULAR fan theory that was going around about this tour:)

*Early 2015

“I can’t believe our book trailer is going live soon,” Dan said as he bit his fingernails out of nervousness. 

Phil sat across from him, laptop open, bouncing his leg up and down. He was nervous too. Anyone could see it. “I know. But it’s so exciting at the same time. Imagine when we tell people about the tour we’ve been planning.”

Dan didn’t even want to think about that right now. The book reveal was stressful enough. He couldn’t even imagine how people would react to the news about the tour. Good, he gathered. But there were some who might think differently … “When we talk about the tour, though, I don’t want to tell people the real reason why we are doing it,” Dan suddenly said. 

Phil looked up from his computer, his leg going still. “Why?”

“I just … I don’t know. I want people to enjoy thinking about it and enjoy actually going to it without having to worry about why we’re doing it, you know? Our fans would freak out. I rather not have them be mad at us on tour and stuff,” Dan admitted.

Phil offered him a smile. “I know what you mean. But we’ll have to tell them eventually.”

“I know,” Dan said sadly, tearing his gaze away from Phil’s. “I just think we should do it after the tour. Like, after the whole thing is over. Forever. Once we’ve traveled to all the countries we could and stuff.”

Phil nodded. “Okay. We won’t tell anyone. Let’s worry about that later, though, yeah? We have to get through the book stuff first. Just take it one thing at a time.”  
Dan took a deep breath. “You’re right. One thing at a time.”

The two boys sat there, looking at their laptops, ready to watch their Twitters blow up from the reveal video. 

“Ready?” Phil asked.

“Ready,” Dan replied, smiling.

They made the video public and watched the reactions roll in.

*Late 2015

The UK tour was nearly finished, and Dan and Phil couldn’t believe it. They had traveled from Glasgow at the beginning of October, all the way to where they currently lived in London. After a month of touring, Dan and Phil couldn’t believe it was finally over. It was a long month, but it was a good one. Phil said it was the most fun he’s ever had in his life, while Dan said it was pretty tiring. But Dan enjoyed it just as much, and he couldn’t wait to take it around the world like they had planned. 

“Tonight is the night our show is filmed,” Phil said, a grin on is face. “Let’s hope neither of us get injured during this one.”

Dan laughed. “Seriously. Hopefully you won’t hit your head on anything and hopefully my pants stay sewn together for the whole show. I can’t believe I ripped my pants in front of a couple thousand people.” Dan cringed at the memory. Everyone laughed and it was all in good fun, but it was still embarrassing for that to happen in front of so many people. It was like the time he fell out of his chair while doing a live YouNow. 

Phil chuckled. “I know. But we’ve done enough shows to know where the danger lies. So tonight, we ace it.” 

“Only eleven shows later,” Dan mumbled.

“Just think of our other tours,” Phil reminded him. “The USA is a lot bigger and has a lot more people. And we’ll have more shows to mess up on.”

Dan’s jaw dropped and he groaned. “Don’t already get me started on that tour. I’m not mentally prepared.” It was true. The USA was quite a bit bigger than the UK and there were a lot more fans there than there were in their home country. Not only that, but they would be putting on at least forty-two shows, most of them in different states. 

“Don’t worry about it. Ever,” Phil said. “Everything that happens, good or bad, will be a memory no one will ever forget. And that’s the point of this tour, isn’t it? To make it memorable for everyone?” 

“Yes,” Dan mumbled in agreement. “That’s the point of the book, too. A collection of our greatest memories for everyone to laugh at.” Sometimes Dan wondered why they did half the things they did. Then he remembered that all of their dignity has already been lost and it can’t get much worse than that. You might as well give people something to laugh about.

“Good. We got this. Tonight is our last show. All of our friends are coming to see it and then we get a few months off before we do it all again.”

Yes. A few more months until they packed everything up and took it to the grand North America. Dan could only wonder where this tour would go from there, and he couldn’t help but think about their last show where they reveal the reason behind everything they’ve been doing. That wouldn’t be a while from now, but he couldn’t help but be a worry wart about it.

*Early 2016 

It’s been roughly three months since Dan and Phil have said anything about their tour, and in the last week of February, their nerves were coming back to them. They were were both about to announce their US tour, and when people could buy tickets for it. Tickets weren’t on sale until the 26th, but they had to give their fans some time to prepare.

Do you have the art you made for the announcement? Phil asked Dan through a messaging app, being that Dan was on holiday with his family.

Yeah, did I send it to you? 

Phil shook his head, then realized Dan couldn’t see him. I don’t think so. I’ll just retweet your tweet. But I’ll announce when tickets go on sale as well.

They’ve done this two times before, already, but it never got less nerve wracking. People would be tweeting them for a whole week, asking and begging for the dates and locations, but being the internet trolls they were, they weren’t going to release the dates and locations for any place until the day before tickets went on sale. They weren’t that mean to wait until the day of the ticket sales to reveal the locations.

Dan and Phil had agreed to tweet about it at the same time.They would both get loads of questions, but only Phil would be able to reply since Dan was out of the country and barely had any data to use. 

Phil felt slightly pressured. Of course, he didn’t have to answer any questions if he didn’t want to.

As soon as Dan sent out his tweet, Phil followed suit, retweeting and typing out his own tweet to share.

It was all madness from there. 

*Mid 2016

The first show of their US tour was in Orlando, Florida at Playlist Live. The two never thought their US tour would come so soon. They were excited and nervous to kick things off on the 22nd of April. Thinking about their last show date on the 23rd of June. It seemed so far away thinking about it now. They wouldn’t be able to go home until nearly July. Dan and Phil wondered if they could make it that long without being homesick. 

Yet again, it was time for another announcement video, but this one wasn’t so bad. It was a simple video explaining how people could get involved in their show. That was Dan’s favorite part. Selective audience participation. They never put on the same show twice because of it, and that’s what made each show unique for their viewers.   
“Have you uploaded it yet?” Phil asked from the bathroom. He was still getting ready for one of their meetups today. Leave it to him to take so much time to look good.  
“It’s still processing. Hotel WiFi sucks.”

“Does it say how much longer it has?” he called out. 

Dan checked the percentage at the top. “Not too much longer. It should be done before the meetup.”

And much to Phil’s surprise and not Dan’s, the video was ready to go, right before their scheduled meetup. Dan made the video public and shut his laptop before heading out with Phil to meetup with some fans. The tour was only beginning. Dan and Phil didn’t know if it would be this much fun all the way into late June. He could only hope so. 

*Late 2016

The last show was a success. It was so surreal to be performing at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, California, the same place where the Oscars were held earlier that year. They performed on a stage where so many actors and actresses once stood, they could hardly believe it.

“Leonardo DiCaprio stood on this same stage when he won his first Oscar this year. This is incredible!” Phil exclaimed.

The stage crew was already hard at work tearing down their set for the last time. The cat whisker screens would be going into storage until their next tour time, which wouldn’t be happening until 2017. There were still so many countries to pick from. Dan and Phil had thought about going to Australia next, or even Germany. It was unfortunate that they had to space out each country so far, but it took time to book venues, find a form of transportation during the tour, and get other minuscule things sorted out beforehand. There was a lot of things that went into planning a tour, and their fans seemed to not realize that. 

“I can’t believe our US tour is over. We get to go home in a few days.” Dan would be lying if he said he didn’t miss his own bed or the familiarity of waking up in his flat each day, trying to find some cereal that Phil didn’t manage to eat. Dan still had that problem while they toured the US. Phil just couldn’t stay out of his damn cereal. 

“I know! It’s bittersweet, if you ask me,” Phil said. They’ve been here for so long and now it’s time to finally go home for a few months. 

“Just imagine how it will be when we’re done completely,” Dan mused to himself, only to realize he said it out loud to where Phil could hear.

Phil didn’t like talking about that far ahead. They had already planned out their long speech for the reason behind the book and tour, and they even thought about going ahead and filming it so it wouldn’t be so bad later, but Phil just couldn’t bring himself to do it. He teared up nearly every time he thought about the tour ending for good, and it was within good reason. 

“Sorry for ruining the moment,” Dan said, sincerely meaning it. 

Phil waved him off. “It’s fine. We’ll have to face that moment at some point anyway. It’s not like we can forget why we are doing this.” Phil looked around at the stage one more time. The set was nearly all taken down now. It wasn’t the last time they were going to see it, but it was still a bit sad to see their creation being destroyed temporarily.   
“We’ll be back at it again soon,” Dan said, patting Phil once on the back. “2017 will be here before we’re ready.” 

For the rest of the year, Dan and Phil looked back on all the great things they did while they toured America. Really it was just one long holiday for both of them. When they weren’t doing meet and greets and putting on the show, they would go and visit landmarks and national monuments.

One of Dan’s favorite moments was when he and Phil went to Niagara Falls. It was a beautiful place. And a wet one, he might add. He remembered his “troll” that he did when he posted a picture of him and Phil wearing ponchos, getting ready to get on the boat when he carefully selected two emoji’s that accurately represented what they were doing. Two boys, getting wet. But of course, their fan base went insane and ran wild with memes and overused the emoji on everything. Even now, Dan still sees it pop up here and there. It made Phil slightly annoyed, but they always laughed it off in the end. Who knew emoji’s could cause such a strong reaction? Dan knew. That’s why he did it. 

“So what should our next stop be?” Phil asked Dan in late October.

“Australia. I’m ready to explore the outback.” 

So Dan and Phil planned. Australia was next. 

*2017

Australia was amazing. The tour didn’t last as nearly as long as the US tour did, but that was fine with them. They still met plenty of amazing people and had a wonderful time exploring the outback and seeing so many wild animals it was hard to keep count. 

When they returned home yet again, it was already time to start planning their next stop. It became more challenging to plan trips in countries neither of them had ever been to before, but somehow, they managed. They traveled all over the place. Germany, Dubai, Prague, and quite a few other places as well. 

It wasn’t until their last show, however, where things between the two started to get a bit more … intense.

*2019

“We have to do it soon, Phil,” Dan kept reminding him reluctantly. 

Phil had been putting off the explanation video for so long, it was getting to the point where it was almost too late. “I’m not ready, Dan.”

Dan offered him a sad smile. “And neither am I. But we have to do it. People will start noticing we aren’t on social media a whole lot and they’ll begin to question what we’re up to. And you know how our fans come up with things.” Those things varying from “coming out” to “dying.” The list was nearly endless. Some fan theories were so insane, it was easier to believe that Hogwarts was a real place. 

“Out of every announcement video we’ve had to film and edit and upload, this one is by far the worst,” Phil said.

Dan agreed. “But at least we won’t be going through it alone.”

Phil looked up from his computer, nodding his head slightly. Him and Dan have been through everything together. They could get through this one. They were best friends forever, as cheesy as that sounded. And they would be until the day they actually died. 

“Let’s go film it,” Phil said, closing his laptop and grabbing his glasses from the table. Over the years, Phil had discovered that many people preferred him when he wore glasses. So he decided to wear them in the next video to bring people some comfort.

“Are we filming it in the gaming room?” Dan asked as they made their way out of the lounge.

Phil sighed. “Might as well. That’s where most of our collabs take place.” Other than in Phil’s room when they would do the Phil is not on fire videos. Their latest one was pinof 11.  
“I have to go grab something,” Dan said. “I’ll be there in a sec.”

Phil nodded and headed up the few steps into the gaming room. He sat down on the sofa bed and looked around the rather empty room. They had cleaned it out about a week ago, including the desk and computers they had in there for their gaming channel.The whole flat was looking rather empty though, if Phil was being honest.   
Dan came back only a few moments later, holding a cord. He hooked it up the the camera that still sat atop the tripod, and plugged it into his Macbook before sitting down next to Phil. He held the remote to the camera in his hand and said, “Are you ready?” 

“No,” Phil replied, swallowing the lump in his throat. 

“We can do this,” Dan said with a smile. “We’re ready.” Dan clicked the on button to the remote that controlled the camera, and once the red light clicked on, it began recording.   
Dan looked over at Phil, waiting to see if he was going to say something. Phil took a deep breath and said, “Hello, DanAndPhilGAMES phannies!” 

“Phannies?” Dan repeated. “Wait, this isn’t even a gaming video!” he pointed out, ignoring Phil’s choice of word for the day. Phannies. 

“No, but we are in the gaming room, so I thought we would keep it in the spirit of things to make this video more relaxed,” Phil explained.

Dan smiled and raised his brows at the camera. “Yes, relaxed. Because that’s what this video is.”

“Hush,” Phil chided, silencing Dan immediately. “Tell us what this video is about today, Dan.”

Here it was. The moment that both of them had been dreading, but known was coming. Dan cleared his throat and said, “Today’s video, as I’m sure you guessed by the title, it a brief explanation behind TATINOF.”

“Ah, yes. TATINOF. The Amazing Tour is Not on Fire.”

“Right. We are officially done with our tour!” Dan said.

“How sad,” Phil commented.

“How sad indeed,” Dan agreed. “But this video isn’t one of reminiscence. This is more of an explanation behind TATINOF, if you will.”

“So grab a seat, find some tissues, and get your phones ready to text your friends, because this is the reason behind our amazing tour,” Phil said, trying to keep his eyes from getting glossy.

Dan glanced over at Phil to make sure he was okay, and when he decided he was fine enough, Dan said–without warning– “It’s to mark the end of a good era.” His words were clean and cut, as if he knew what he was already planning to say. “We created this book and tour not for ourselves, but for all of you,” Dan continued. “The book is a compilation of Phil and I’s best moments in life, and the moments that make all of you laugh and smile.”

“Yes,” Phil chimed in, deciding that Dan shouldn’t have to do all of the talking. “It took us nearly a year to write and make, as we had many great moments we wanted to share with you and let everyone remember.”

Dan nodded. “Mmhmm, and we also created the tour so we could see so many of you and hear your stories of what we’ve been able to do for you guys. So many of you told us that we’ve saved you from dark times and we never fail to brighten up your day. It’s incredible to see what we have been able to do for all of you, so we made the tour to be able to give back.”

“The tour was made for us to do just that, but it also had another meaning that most of you have liked to guess at,” Phil said. The moment was coming up. There was no way to avoid it now. “The tour was Dan and I’s way of, like he said, be able to see so many of you and let you guys gives us so many thanks and kind words. It was a truly amazing experience, and the tour was so well aptly named.”

“But there was more to it than just that,” Dan said. Now Dan’s eyes began to glass over. Dan doesn’t cry often, but he does cry easily, so he’s told people on YouNow. “This tour was to mark the end of something great. It was a mark to the end of the amazing world of Dan and Phil.”

Tears began to trickle out of Phil’s eyes now. He nodded his head and pushed on anyway. “Yes. Everyone knows that all good things must come to an end.”  
“This isn’t and end of our friendship,” Dan quickly added. “But we are growing older each year we do this for you guys. I’m almost 28 and Phil here is 33.”   
“I still can’t believe I’m in my thirties,” Phil said, laughing slightly at the thought. 

“I can’t believe I’m almost 30,” Dan said. 

The two laughed with each other. How could they go from tears to laughter in under three minutes? Only they could do that, Dan supposed. 

“YouTube has been around for a long time now, and when things grow old, new stuff takes it place,” Dan says, setting the tone back to something more serious. “We have grown with YouTube. We were there when it started and we are here when it ended.” Dan wiped one stray tear from his cheek, and Phil took this as his chance to talk, even though he looked like a mess himself.

“Our friendship is everlasting, but our time here is not. We need to move on with our lives. Don’t get me wrong, YouTube has been my life and passion for years. It’s provided me with so many great things, like a job at BBC Radio 1, my best friend, Dan, and most importantly, millions of people who love and support what I do. If it weren’t for all of you, I never would have gotten to this point in life today. I could have been a boring college professor or something.” 

Dan laughed at Phil’s comment. “Yeah, I could have been a lame lawyer. Oh, law, how exciting,” he said sarcastically. “But I am glad for YouTube. It saved me from such a boring career.” 

“We saved you, and you saved us,” Phil said. 

“Yes, and we thought what better way to end our time here than with a bang? That’s what the amazing tour was for. It took us years to finish it, but we finished it well.”  
“We finished everything well, I would say,” Phil said. 

“I agree,” Dan said, looking at Phil with teary eyes. 

They both looked back at the camera to say their final words. Phil went first by saying, “This apartment has been my favorite out of the few we’ve lived in. It has so many memories in it. I hope it can do the same for the next people who wind up in here.” Phil looks around the room aimlessly, taking in everything like it’s the last time he’ll see it.  
“Who knows what this room will be next. Maybe a nursery or a storage space. But whatever it may be, it will always be the home to DanAndPhilGAMES.”

“And this flat will always be home to Dan and Phil,” Phil said. “Which leads me to the next and final point.” He looked at Dan, unsure if he should continue. 

Dan nodded once before saying, “I’ve never lived on my own, and I’m kind of scared to, but I know I can manage. At least then I can sit around naked and not have to worry about Phil seeing me.”

Phil laughed, wiping his eyes with the end of his sleeves. “I just hope you don’t accidentally fall asleep while eating a peanut and choke on it.”

“I was fine last time!” Dan argued.

“Barely. I was on holiday in Florida! Right before our US tour started. What if you died?” 

Dan shrugged. “We all die eventually, Phil.”

Phil rolled his eyes. “Save that for your existential crisis later. We’re trying to say goodbye here.” He motioned towards the camera that recorded the two.

“Oh, right,” Dan said, forgetting all about the camera. “So how so we sign off this time?”

Phil pondered the thought for a moment, and the idea came to him. He leaned over to Dan and whispered in his ear. Dan nodded in agreement. 

“So this is it, guys,” Phil said once he was away from Dan’s ears. “This has been DanAndPhilGames.”

“This has been danisnotonfire.”

“And this has been AmazingPhil.”

The two boys looked at each other with sad smiles and tear stained faces before looking back at the camera.

“This was the most fun I’ve ever had. Goodbye, internet,” Dan said, waving his two fingers in salute.

“Goodbye, guys,” Phil said, doing the wave he usually does at the beginning of his videos. 

And with that, Dan shut off the camera and spent all night editing it with jump cuts. The following morning, they both uploaded the video to all three channels, and deactivated all social media accounts. 

2019 was the last year the Phandom had heard of their whereabouts. They could only hope the best for Dan and Phil, and keep their spirit alive by keeping TABINOF close, and the memories of TATINOF close in their brains. 

Eventually, everyone ran out of gifs and memes of the two, and ever so slowly, the Phandom faded into the background, much like Dan and Phil had earlier that year.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry :) Just remember that it's not real
> 
> As of now ;)


End file.
